There's A BIG Thankful In Here, Folks!

Know what? When news of a possible pandemic is on everyone's mind, one barky, rattly cough in a movie theater can sure make heads turn, or so I imagine.... 

It's time for Ten Things of Thankful, y'all:

1. I am almost, ALMOST, completely among the living after my bronchitis/sinus infection/plague. Finished the steroids today and good riddance to them! I felt cranky and foggy while taking them (sorry, all I came in contact with). Antibiotic will be done tomorrow.

2. Upside to being sick? I've lost a few pounds. A hole in my belt's worth, which isn't bad.

3. Haven't mentioned that gel mattress pad in awhile, but now that I can sleep and breathe simultaneously, I am sleeping like the dead, and in spite of hardly moving a muscle all night, no back or hip pain. Thank you, gel mattress pad!

4. I participated in Six Sentence Stories for the first time in for-FREAKING-ever. Want to read it? Sure you do - it's only 6 sentence long. Click here and do it now...

5. The weather warmed up just enough that we got to play outside at school. Finally! I put mittens on all of them, and OF COURSE, they managed to find water to dip their mittened hands into, but no fingers froze and fell off because of it.

6. I put away all the snowman decorations today. The forecast for the next week is for mild, spring-like weather, and I have certainly jinxed THAT with my actions today, but worth it to decorate with spring flowers and bunnies and know that warm weather will be here to stay SOOOOOOOON.

Test driving some new greenery....

7. I bought a three pound bag of cuties yesterday, and they are sweet and delicious. Always a crap shoot to buy a big bag, but it paid off this time!

8. Straightened my hair this morning to see how the silver is growing in, and I'm pleased.

Not bad....

9. The next one is a big one.

10. My son and his girlfriend are engaged! We are so excited for them! They've been talking about it, but he did the actual ask today while they were on a hike. Tentative plans are for a wedding in just over a year, after Match Day and before graduation. I have to lose 25 pounds and 15 years by then. Can I do it?

Link up your thankfuls with us every week! It will make you feel even thankfuller if you do!

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Slice: A Six Sentence Story

He stood on the sidewalk outside the diner, watching the beautiful woman through the window as the waitress slid a slice of hot apple pie in front of her, wisps of steam rising from the cold, creamy ice cream atop it, and as she immediately brought a forkful to her mouth, closing her eyes as she savored the first heavenly bite, he heard an involuntary moan come from somewhere deep in his throat.

He watched as she took a second bite, then a third before setting the fork down and dabbing daintily at her lips with a napkin, and as she raised her head from her pie, her green eyes finally lighted on his. Her left eyebrow went up almost imperceptibly, and his answering nod was hardly more than a quiver. The hint of a smile crossed her face, and she dreamily picked up her fork and continued to eat, pausing to lick a drop of ice cream from her wrist, and when she looked out the window again, he was gone. 

As the enormity of the situation sunk in, she smiled. Life was about to get interesting, she thought, and she contentedly finished her pie.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge's Blog for Six Sentence Stories with the prompt ""slice

At Least It Wasn't The Flu And Other Thankfuls

**tenderly taking my little blog into my arms, dusting it gently, giving it a little kiss on its bloggy forehead, cooing softly to it that I will never ignore it like this again as little blog smiles up at me and whispers "i'm always here for you"**

I'M BAAAACK!!! 'SUP, BITCHES?!

No excuses, just a combination of laziness, writer's block, winter blahs, and sickness, but I'm back and it's Ten Things of Thankful aaaaand, go:

1. I'm a lead teacher at a university child development center. My little nugs are one year olds, and they are more precious than gold.

They are also walking (most of them), talking (some of them) petri dishes. I'm pretty good about washing my hands frequently and using hand sanitizer (unless you work for the health department, in which case I never touch the stuff), but I done got got by a toddler cold, and that turned into bronchitis and a roaring sinus infection, I am on Day #3 of steroids and antibiotics, and I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's dim, but it's there.

2. I've lost at least 5 pounds, probably more, since I've only nibbled occasionally on crackers and pretzels for a solid week.

3. I popped what has turned out to be a toxic combination of ibuprofen, excederin, and aleve, coupled with not enough fluids to get them down, and then went straight to bed (not taking them all at one time, by the way, but over the course of probably 2-3 days, when I was desperate to relieve the sinus pressure in my head without being driven to stabbing myself through the sinuses with a knitting needle). In doing so, I gave myself some kind of gut rot right around the diaphragm area, but through the miracle of Google, a consult with my SIL the nurse, and a flashback to the time I took a couple of aleve followed by a box of Hot Tamales and all washed down with a Diet Coke, I'm pretty sure I now have a small ulcer, or ulcer wannabe. It is better so far this morning, but I will be treating it with Zantac or something like it.

4. I have the best co-workers! I kept soldiering on at work, because by God, I'm no sissy, but also because I have only worked there since September and I didn't know what the procedure was for calling in sick. So, Thursday, I practically crawled into the building and to my classroom. My A-1 college student assistants stepped up, as usual, and I sat in a rocking chair and read books and rocked any nugget who climbed in my lap and tried not to fall over dead. An hour later, when the director and the administrative assistant happened to come down our way and got one look at me, they found warm bodies to cover for me and sent me home. I slept all day, then finally caved to going to Urgent Care, where my sinus infection and bronchitis were confirmed.

I. Am. CLAUSTROPHOBIC.

5. My antibiotics are ginormous, but so far, I have been able to get them down without one getting stuck in my gullet. 

Are you seeing this?!

6. I had to get better quickly, because this weekend has been Mom's Weekend at my daughter's sorority, and we made plans A YEAR AGO to spend the weekend with my SIL and her husband (yes, the nurse one - handy, huh?) in Fayetteville (their son is a student at UArk as well). At one moment in my delirium on Thursday, I thought I was just going to have to stay home and lie in bed all weekend, surrounded by snotty kleenexes and cats, while my husband got to go have all the fun, but I rallied and I made it!

7. We're staying in an Airbnb together, and it's been so much fun! My brother in law said that he wanted us to get together like this (with or without kids) once a year, and he got no arguments from any of us. 

8. Saturday morning, my SIL, daughter and I went to a lovely brunch at the sorority house. We spent the afternoon doing girly shopping. I tuckered out by the time we got to Ulta, but I was revived by a delicious dinner with all of us, including nephew's girlfriend and daughter's boyfriend. 

Some items found but not purchased, and I may have some regrets about a few of them:

Peas in a pod. About 12" long.

A real statement piece and a
bargain at $47.50

Another statement piece, although
I don't know what statement this is
trying to make other than I am
feeling quite ill and it shows

Original art. Oils. It's an owl.
It says so on the back.

9. We played games when we got back to the Airbnb. My SIL is maybe a little competitive. So is her brother, my husband. And my daughter. Hmmm. We had a raucous good time with both Catch Phrase and Think 'N Sync.

10. I'm sitting in the living room of the Airbnb now, the house quiet, and over the muffled sounds of snoring from either end of the house, I can hear birds singing as the sun comes up. Spring can't be too far away when you hear that beautiful sound in the early morning hours (the birds, not the snoring). I'm thankful for this family time. It's been a marvelous weekend.

Don't be a deadbeat like me. Write it and link it up.

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